


Lance, Bombs, and More Misadventures with Injuries.

by Silvaniuous



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Lance has feelings though, M/M, Major Character Injury, No Smut, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Sensory Deprivation, first fic, he just don't know it, he's trying his best, i dunno, i think i used the word whump correctly?, keith is there to help!, lance is dealing with it, poor boy, published anyway i have some in the backlogs lol, this is my first fic, whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-13 21:33:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15373776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvaniuous/pseuds/Silvaniuous
Summary: Bombs seem to have it out for Lance.At least that what he thought. Pidge might disagree since she also was involved in this explosion. Clearly, the bomb was out for her and Lance made it about him really.~~~~~After a mission gone wrong, Lance is left healing and coping with the aftermath of a bad injury but Keith is there to help him get through the healing journey.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after season i dunno. Listen, keeping track of that is hard for me. The point is, the casteship isn't destroyed, shiro isn't with the team (maybe i might change my mind later) and Keith isn't with the blades nor does he have mama kogane. Deal with the confusing setting.

Bombs seem to have it out for Lance.

At least that what he thought. Pidge might disagree since she also was involved in this explosion. Clearly, the bomb was out for her and Lance made it about him really.

She was hacking, and he was her guard. It was typical, familiar, and easy. 

“3 minutes until I’ve finished transmitting all the data to the castle ship!”

Yeah, super easy. Just 3 minutes left.

Lance snuck another peak around the corner. He hadn’t seen another guard come by for at least twenty minutes which would be relieving if he wasn’t so weirded out by it. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a soldier turning the corner. Before he could even process it, the guard lay dead where he stood. Lance was just that good he scared himself sometimes. 

Lance squinted down the hallway towards the guard. Why was the guard running in the opposite direction from where they were? Surely they knew where Pidge and Lance were positioned; they had been compromised hours ago. 

Lance turned to address Pidge about the situation but stopped just short of speaking when a little red module caught his attention. Something...wasn’t right. That tech wasn’t Pidge’s, that was obvious, but it seemed separate from the main console. And it was red. That was always a bad thing. 

Lance immediately got to his feet, already running towards her. “Pidge! There’s a-”

It flashed white once. He grabbed her. It flashed white again. He pulled her away and tucked her under him before pulling out his shield. 

Then everything was noise and pain and darkness.

His shoulders shook with the weight of...something. His body burned, ached, screamed, and bled. A shrill ring was the only sound he could hear and he had to resist the urge to wipe at his ears. He held himself up despite everything.

His shoulder shook but this time a hand was pushing at him. He cracked an eye open to see Pidge frantically mouthing something at him. She pointed to her ears, then to his, and looked pleadingly at him. 

The world pulsed in reds and blacks. His head hurt so much.

He looked around and realized how desperate the situation was. Surrounded by debris, Lance was the only thing keeping them from being crushed under the weight of the building. Pidge was okay as she was directly under Lance and the shield.

She tapped his shoulder again and desperately tried to gesture a message at him. Frantically, she pointed to her ears and made an X with her fingers. She couldn’t hear anything. Well, neither could he so not a huge problem. He tried to mouth this at her and she seemed to understand.

Once again, the world warped and twisted. His vision was filled with red and black hues. His head hurt.

Pidge pulled her arm to her chest and tried to contact the rest of the team. Lance’s arms shook and he sighed deeply. He really couldn’t keep this up that much longer, but Pidge seemed to understand the urgency of the situation.

She nodded once at her communicator before turning to Lance. She opened her mouth then stopped. Quickly, she pulled up a hologram before writing something down and showing it to Lance.

"Hunk and Keith are on their way. It should only be a couple minutes. How are you holding up?"

A line of blood traced his jaw before dripping onto Pidge’s neck and really, he thought that perfectly described his situation. He gave her an exasperated smile before nodding once. She looked perturbed and went back to the communicator. 

His vision blacked out and his head pulsed in pain. He felt like vomiting. He opened his eyes and everything was immediately more painful.

He really needed a distraction before he lost his mind. The pain was indescribable and not doing much to boost his willpower.

He blew on Pidge’s face until she turned to look at him. He gave her a look that could only be described as desperate. She pulled up the hologram again and showed it to him.

"They’re almost here. Can you hold on for just another 3 minutes? Is there anything I can do?"

Just 3 minutes. Super easy. He was going to die here.

His eyes shut and clenched to accommodate the new wave of pain. His head was exploding from the inside out.

He looked her in the eyes again and she only looked more distressed. He looked down his body for the largest source of blood and found his head was making the biggest mess. That was definitely the worst place to lose blood from. 

Pidge brought her legs up and tucked into a ball. Bracing her right arm against the wall, she gestured for him to duck his head. Her shield appeared in a flash of white light that stabbed his eyes through. He immediately ducked away from the shield.

His head burst in pain and he was sure he let out a scream. His eyes protested, but he cracked one open and looked at Pidge’s handiwork. 

Her shield alleviated some of the weight of the biggest rock above them. His back practically sang at how much relief he was given. He let out a sigh before shifting into a better position and giving Pidge a small grin in triumph.

The rocks above them trembled. There were some vibrations above them which Lance connected with the arrival of Keith and Hunk. The debris dug mercilessly into his back and he screamed before letting a few tears out. They slipped down his face and fell onto a wide-eyed Pidge and Lance prayed to every god that Pidge wouldn’t be traumatized by this situation.

Pidge furiously typed into her communicator before a call flashed on the screen, and she answered. Keith was the largest in frame, and glanced around with horror and the gruesome situation they were in. He yelled off screen at what Lance assumed was Hunk. 

The rocks stopped moving and Lance sighed in relief.

Keith leaned in to get a better look at Lance upon hearing his sigh. His eyes were intense and stuck on Lance even as he barked orders at Hunk off screen. Lance kept eye contact until his eyes forcibly shut due to the pain. The screen was too bright to look at.

His eyes didn’t reopen.

Pidge was desperately tapped his shoulder, but he was in too much pain to open them again. He shook his head side to side, hoping she would understand. 

Some rocks behind them were clearing away, he could feel it, but he was quickly losing consciousness. He felt the debris on his back be lifted away before he slumped over in exhaustion. 

\----------------

Someone big, familiar, and strong was carrying him. The hands dug into his injured back and he shrieked for Hunk to be gentle. 

Hunk tried to adjust but his hands were shaking so bad he slipped up and grabbed Lance’s bad shoulder. Lance screamed. Why was Hunk shaking?

A new person grabbed him and Lance hoisted his legs around the new person. Lance was instantly relieved before slipping back into unconsciousness.

\-------------------

Cold and silent.

Was this death?

It was dark.

Lance shot forward out of the small cold place and onto the floor. Someone was helping him up. He slumped all his weight on the person before being picked up off the floor. Someone set him down on a bench and he leaned back before opening his eyes.

Dark. It was still dark.

Lance immediately sat upright and shot his hands forward. Where was he? Was he not in a healing pod just now? He grasped around desperately. Fear shook his very soul when he couldn’t feel anything. There wasn’t enough air in the room. Where was he?

He attempted to stand only to feel deer-legged and weak. He couldn’t bring himself to step forward into the darkness, the unknown.

Wait, someone helped him into the chair right?

He cried out for help but couldn’t hear anything. He was in the void. There was no light, no sound, and not enough air. Lance was going to die.

A hand grasped his and Lance jumped. 

The hand ran up his arm before another one appeared on his other side. They gently coaxed him to sit back down. One disappeared and he assumed reappeared on his back to rub circles into it. 

The other hand slipped down his arm to grasp at his hand. It guided his hand to a warm place. He felt a heartbeat and a chest breathing in and out. The hand squeezed his before pushing more firmly at the chest. Lance heaved in air, attempting to follow the other person’s breathing.

The hand traced a silly twisty swirly pattern onto Lance’s back to distracted him. Lance breathed deeply and steadily for 3 beats before breathing out a small thank you to the person. 

Lance was blind and deaf. His shoulder still hurt a little but his back felt fine. Was he in the Castle?

Lance slipped his hand out of the strangers grasp before grabbing at it. Fingerless gloves. He knew three people that wore fingerless gloves: Shiro, Hunk, and Keith. He traveled up the arm onto the shoulder of the person.

Lance spoke out into the void, “Sorry if this breaks your personal space bubble. I’m just trying to figure out who you are.”

Then Lance continued up the shoulder to the neck and eventually the face. It was a face alright. He still couldn’t figure out who it was but he definitely knew the face was laughing at his antics. He could feel the little huffs of breath on his hand. He traveled up and felt the forehead. No headband so, therefore, not Hunk. He went up a little farther and felt the hair. It was soft, and maybe a little greasy. He followed the strands of hair before grasping the ends. A mullet. No doubt about it. 

“Keith?”

Lance twisted his face in confusion. Keith probably said something but Lance forgot he couldn’t hear anything. He positioned his hand to the middle of Keith’s forehead.

“Nod your head if you’re Keith.”

His hand shook with the movement of it. Up and down. A nod.

“Keith. Ok. Keith, I can’t see or hear anything.”

A nod. Keith knew.

“Do you know...anything about that? Is it temporary? Do you know?”

A brief moment passed by, then a nod. A hand grasped his hand and rolled up the sleeve of the pod suit before tracing some shapes into his arm.

TEMPORARY

“Both of them?” A nod.

Lance heaved a sigh of relief. Why did Keith hesitate?

“Where are the others?”

P O D S

“All of them?”

CORAN ALLURA BUSY

How did Hunk get injured? How did Pidge get injured? He thought they were fine last time he checked. 

Keith got up and Lance was left alone in the void.

A hand tapped his good arm twice before pulling on him. Lance stood up and pushed his arms out. He didn’t know where to go. A felt around for a bit before a hand gently grasped his arm. Slowly, he was pulled to his left, every step becoming less and less intimidating. 

He made it about 16 steps before tripping on something. The arms caught him, but Lance couldn’t rebalance himself and he fell to his knees. The jagged corner of a step dug into his knee before he could stop it and he whispered a tense “ow” before standing back up.

Ok, there was a step there. He could do this. A large overestimation had him pretty far forward and safely onto flat ground. His other foot followed and they continued to walk forward. 

Then he ran into a wall.

“Keith, you seriously suck at guiding people.”

The hands rubbed his arms twice in an apologetic gesture before continuing to tug him down what he assumed was the main hallway. Lance pushed his hand against the wall and let himself be tugged along.

49 steps later and the tugging stopped.

Nothing happened for a bit.

“Keith? What’s wrong what’s happening?”

The hand squeezed his before gently pushing him to his right. Then Keith let go.

And Lance was back in the void.

Keith brushed past his side before grabbing his arm and quickly writing out:  
WAIT THERE

“Ok, but could you at least push me against a wall or something?”

A push and a swerve to the left and he was most definitely not against a wall. The hands pushed at his shoulders down and Lance realized that he was telling him to sit. Slowly, Lance eased himself down into nothingness and hoped a chair or something was there. Lance almost fell over before feeling something beneath his hands. 

Lance sat down on a soft, loose, something. He explored the space and determined it was probably a bed. Was he in his room or was this one of the med bay beds? He spread himself out on the bed and tried to find his nightside table. He bumped into it and grasped at the top before finding a familiar rock and his journal. The pencil also had bite marks so he knew it was his. Satisfied, he sat up and waited for Keith’s return.

After a bit, Keith announced his presence by suddenly grabbing his shoulder. 

And maybe Lance shrieked, he’ll never know. Not like it was unjustified. Keith did suddenly appear out of nowhere. At least, he assumed it was Keith.

Lance grasped around the hand before traveling up the arm to the forehead.

“Nod if you’re Keith.”

A nod.

Then the hand let go and some soft fabric was dropped into Lance’s lap. Lance felt around them and theorized that they were clothes. A hand appeared on his shoulder before traveling down his back to undo the zipper of the pod suit. 

Lance quickly felt through the pile for the shirt to immediately replace where the pod suit had been. He found what he thought might be it and moved to put it on but the hand stopped him. The hand took the clothe and twisted it around. 

Oh, he was gonna put it on backward.

“Don’t laugh you jerk.”

Of course, he could only assume he was laughing. He was pretty sure he was though.

Lance lifted the shirt before his shoulder violently shuddered. Lance grasped his shoulder and leaned forward. The pain was horrific. The pods never left him like this.

“Why does my shoulder hurt so much? I was in a pod.” Lance gritted out.

Keith lifted the shirt the rest of the way before writing out on his arm.

COMPLICATED

Lance grumbled before adjusting the shirt. Keith continued:

WOULDVE NOT BEEN TEMPORARY

“What would not have been temporary?”

BLIND DEAF

“Oh.” Lance grumbled.

Keith left then and Lance fell back on the bed to pull off the rest of the suit. It felt like Keith had given him a t-shirt, some boxers, and pajama pants. Quickly pulling them on, Lance hoped Keith had left the room to give him privacy. 

Lance crawled under the sheets and shut his eyes for just a moment before being rudely tapped on the head.

Lance scowled before hushing out a quiet “What.”

Maybe that was rude to someone who helped him walk today but what did Lance care, he was in pain and tired.

Keith handed him a cold cup and a small sphere.

“Is this a painkiller?”

Keith wrote a small Y and Lance was already chugging it down.

Keith took the cup before writing:

THIS FOR IF YOU NEED HELP

A small rounded rectangle was dropped into Lance’s hands. It had three buttons and what Lance assumed was a speaker, which was useless since he was deaf, and a microphone. Keith guided his finger over one button and spelled out:

EMERGENCY

Another button he wrote:

CALL ME

The last button he wrote:

EXPLODE

“WHAT?!?”

And then Keith’s shoulders were shaking up and down. It was evidently not an explosive.

“You’re the worst person I’ve ever met. I just blew up a day or two ago you know.” But Lance knew his smile was visible.

GOODNIGHT

And then Keith was gone. Lance set the communicator down on his bedside table and tucked back into the covers. He slowly drifted off to sleep before realizing that this was the most jokes Lance had ever seen Keith give in a day. What’s up with that? What a dork. Was he trying to make Lance feel better or was he just making fun of Lance’s disorientated self? 

Chuckling to himself, Lance figured it was the first. Keith was a big softie, he just knew it.

\----------------------

Wait…

What did the third button do?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance grows more frustrated with his injuries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read ending notes! i'm too lazy to copy and paste i guess.

Lance never liked when Mom talked like this, her voice raised and frantic. Lance grasped her hand but couldn’t hear a word. Desperately, he tried to convey this to her but his voice was gone as well. Lance searched her face for any sign of what was wrong. He read her lips, her silent screams urging him to find Veronica, Marco, anyone, and then she was being pulled away. Lance gripped tight and tugged and fought but she slipped away into the void. She screamed and Lance could finally hear her.

And then Lance was on the floor. Desperately gasping, Lance furiously blinked his eyes open to no avail. It was so dark in here, he couldn’t see anything.

Lance shuffled around and tried to find his way. He didn’t know where he was. He bumped up against a hard surface and something hit his foot. He furiously smoothed over the hard surface, trying to decipher what it was. 

A small table? A nightstand.

A nightstand. He was in his room.

Memories of the past events caught up with his sleep-deprived brain and he recollected himself. He’d never had a nightmare that violent before. His bed must be close by. 

Hesitantly, Lance reached out a hand for what hit his foot. His hands swept around for a bit until he found the small cold thing. It was the most likely the communicator he’d set on the nightstand before. Lance pocketed the thing before reaching out to find the bed. Treading his hand along the nightstand, Lance felt around until he could touch the blanket.

Standing abruptly, Lance shuffled carefully over to the direction of the bed and reached out. His shoulder violently shifted in his back and he frantically tugged his arm back to his chest before huffing out a breath and using his other arm. His head was killing him once again. Settling back down, Lance sat on the bed and caught his breath before leaning forward. His shoulder pulsed with pain. Lance felt stuck, it hurt so bad he couldn’t move now that the pain began to spread to the rest of his body. His knee suddenly flared up with a sharp stab of pain and he could only grasp and squeeze it desperately to relieve any of it.

Something settled next to him on the bed. Startled, Lance could only yelp and turn his blind eyes toward the source. 

Nothing happened for a second. Then, a hand tapped his thigh and drew a small shape on his good shoulder.

K

“Keith?”

Y

“How’d you get here? How’d you even know…”

Keith spelled out a question mark on his shoulder before continuing:

YOU PRESSED BUTTON?

“No. Well, I didn’t think I did? It might have hit my foot when I fell.”

FELL?

Keith seemed alarmed as he quickly dashed these things onto Lance’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. Say listen, my shoulder is fucking killing me dude. I can’t even move. Can I take more pain meds? What time is it even?”

Keith patted Lance’s good shoulder twice as if to say “hold on, wait here” before getting up.

Lance slowly unwinded himself from his folded position and let go of his knee to test the waters. The knee throbbed for a second before numbing away. His shoulder protested even the smallest movements and Lance winced before settling a hand on the front of it. 

Keith tapped Lance’s arm and brushed something cold by his hand.

Using the hand that wasn’t on his shoulder, Lance reached out a hand before a small pill dropped into it. Quickly tossing it to the back of his throat, Lance swallowed it. A cup of water was shoved into his hands. The water was pointless now but Lance gulped it down anyways. Keith’s fingers brushed his gently before grabbing the cup from him and moving away. After a moment, he returned and shuffled next to Lance on the bed before writing something on Lance’s good shoulder.

YOU OK?

“Yeah man, I’m fine. Don’t worry, I didn’t mean to contact you, it’s not an emergency.”

FELL THOUGH?

“Oh, yeah. No, it’s fine, just a nightmare. It’s cool, I’m cool.” That sounded bad coming off his tongue and Lance didn’t even need to hear it to know how fake it sounded.

Lance was overcompensating, even he could realize that. Keith wouldn’t buy this since he wasn’t really selling it. Before Lance could fix the situation, or probably make it worse, Keith responded abruptly.

OH

A pause before,

I GET NIGHTMERES TOO

Lance let out a chuckle, “Yeah I imagine we all do. Poor Pidge hardly ever sleeps, though I imagine her tech stuff keeps her up instead of bad dreams. Maybe it’s both, I dunno.”

Keith’s arm, which had been reaching over to write on his good shoulder, settled around him instead. Small patterns were drawn on his back in circular motions. It was distracting and comforting but odd since Keith had never approached this level of physical affection with Lance.

That thought produced a flutter in Lance’s heart that he desperately needed a distraction from.

“What happened to Pidge anyway? I thought she was fine. And Hunk too while I’m at it. I lost consciousness right after you guys lifted the rock from my back.”

Keith stopped drawing shapes on his back and hesitated before writing,

INJURED

“Yeah, I know that, they wouldn’t be in the pods otherwise. I’m asking how they got injured, mullet.”

Keith didn’t write back. Lance felt a breath of warm air move past his arm and couldn’t decipher if it was a sigh or a laugh. Keith then shuffled a bit, removed his arm from around Lance and quickly wrote out on Lance’s arm,

COMPLICATED.

GOODNIGHT

Then Keith stood up from the bed and Lance was left alone.

“Wait Keith, what happened? Tell me. What the hell dude?”

Either Keith was ignoring Lance or he was already gone. Frustrated, Lance fell back on the bed before shuffling under the covers again. Mumbling under his breath, Lance curled into the bed and tried to will himself back to sleep before a finger traced a message on his arm.

TELL YOU LATER PROMISE

~~~~~~~~~~

Lance opened his eyes only to find it still dark. It took a second, but Lance recollected his injuries and relaxed. His circadian rhythm was still correct, probably, so maybe it was morning?

Lance rubbed his eyes and sat up. Testing his injured shoulder, he found he could move it farther than last night and immediately tried to grab the top of his nightstand with it.

His shoulder shifted and he reeled it back in with a hiss.

“Ok, nevermind.”

Lance through his legs off the bed and sat over the edge before reaching out with his good arm and setting his hand on top of the nightstand. Using this as a guide, Lance stood up and began to feel his way through the room following the wall.

After tripping over the gaming console a little, he made it to his closet. Probably. It was probably his closet.

The panel in the wall pushed itself forward before sliding to the right and allowing him access to his clothes. Carefully, Lance took his time trying to decipher what each and every article of clothing was, and taking out his usual outfit. Throwing them over his other arm, Lance began to circle back to his bed so he could put them on.

Upon sitting and down and finding the correct orientation for his shirt, Lance paused.  
He hadn’t taken a shower yet. This brought up a lot of issues. Was it safe for him to even attempt something like that? He wasn’t in too bad of shape, but he did only have use of one arm, no eyes, and no ears.

As Lance was weighing his options, something fell onto the bed. He congratulated himself for not being as startled as he usually was before reaching out and feeling an arm.

“Shake your arm if you’re Keith.”

A hesitation, then a small shake, as if Keith was weirded out.

“Hey my methods aren’t ordinary, but they are effective aren’t they?”

OK was written into his shoulder.

“Hey so, I really want to shower, but don't know if I should. I can’t really use my arm right now and-”

FINE

“Uh, ok.”

The clothes on his lap were suddenly lifted off and Lance felt Keith step away. Soon, Keith came back and gently pulled Lance to his feet before guiding him to the bathroom.

Grabbing his hand, Keith showed that instead of a shower, Keith was filling a bath for Lance. Then he showed Lance the communicator sitting beside the bath on a small table. Finally, he guided Lance’s hand to the countertop to show him his clothes and what lance assumed to be a towel or two. 

“Ok, but like, this bath is almost completely full. How long have you been in my room man?”

No answer. Maybe Keith had already left?

Lance raised his eyebrows before shrugging his shoulders and moving over to the counter to take off his pajamas. He felt his way around the bathroom before lowering himself down to grab some bath salts.

Relying on texture and scent alone, Lance carefully prepared the bath and leaned over to gently ease in. It was, admittedly, a little harder without vision and only one arm but he managed. 

After awhile, Lance realized that he had no idea which bottle was shampoo and which was conditioner. Body Wash was shorter, but the hair product bottles were exactly the same size and shape. Frustrated, Lance guessed and hoped for the best.

Finally, after what seemed like hours to Lance, he was leaving the bathroom. Every simple little thing became a million and one times harder with his senses gone. Usually baths were supposed to be soothing to him, but Lance felt so wound up and stressed he would snap at anyone who dared to even look at him.

Not that he would know they were looking at him.

Nevermind.

The communicator was pocketed, and Lance didn’t know where Keith was. The lounge was relatively close by so he figured he could probably find his own way through the castle. He was very wrong. A small distance from his room, about 62 steps, and Lance was lost.

He knew all the directions that he took, so he could probably attempt to get back to his room and start over, but he figured he was close enough that he could figure it out. Now, 18 steps later, Lance had no idea how to get back to his room and no idea where the lounge was either. Lance frowned and begrudgingly picked up the communicator to call for help. Leaning against a wall, Lance slid to the floor before resting his head against his knees and letting out a sigh. Lance was going through a war. He was a soldier who had been through things much worse than this, but the feeling of helplessness and uselessness combined was almost too much to handle.

Some time past. Lance didn’t know if the communicator had a tracker on it or not, but he figured that it did. Considering that no one had come to his aid yet was a little concerning. He lifted his head from his knees and pointlessly shifted his eyes towards the direction he had come from. 

Finally, Lance could feel some steps rapidly approaching him. A hand tugged on his arm and he was abruptly lifted from his position on the floor. Another hand appeared on his other side and another on his shoulder.

“Um, Keith?”

COULDN'T FIND YOU LOOKED FOR HOURS

“Hours? I haven’t been out of my room for hours.”

Another message was traced on his other arm saying,  
EXAGGERATING 

HE WAS JUST WORRIED

“Aw Keith. Better be careful, or I might start to think you care about me or something.” Lance smirked.

A light punch was swiftly brought to his right side, ending that discussion. Lance rubbed his shoulder once before turning to his left.

“Ok, that was Keith. Keith is to my right. So, who are you?”

GUESS

Grasping the hand that traced that message, Lance felt around before discovering a soft little half glove thing, and a huge bracelet that sat a little further up.

“Allura right?”

A small “Y” was traced on his left arm at the same time “N O C O R A N” was rapidly dashed out on his right. 

“Sure Keith. So what’s going on? Are we doing anything today?”

PODS MIGHT OPEN SOON

“Ok.”

A tug, and then Lance was being led by his right to a separate hallway. A whopping 46 steps later and he was finally let go. Allura’s hands, he assumed, then grabbed his good arm and led him to a bench.

BE DONE SOON

“Ok.”

Lance sat for a while before his boredom overcame him. Why was this taking so long? He crossed his arms before sliding a little lower in his seat. While he was grumbling to himself, he tested out his shoulder once again. Slower than last time, Lance extended his arm out in front of him. When he found that the motion was not painful, he attempted to move his arm to the right before it exploded in pain and he pulled it back in. 

The pain wasn’t ebbing away. Lance leaned forward in his seat and began to grip his shoulder in surprise. His head began to pulse in response and he let out a groan. For a brief moment, the pain in his head spiked and left him breathless. Something brushed his side and someone’s arm went around him. 

“Lance!”

He heard that! The voice wavered in and out of clarity. Various halves of phrases were almost perceptible but they all sounded like Lance was submerged in water. Lance’s head began to swell in pain and he struggled to catch his breath. He let out a whimper before losing consciousness.

He imagined only a few seconds passed by when he was woken up and the arm around his shoulder began to lift him from his seat.

“-ling pod! Hurr-”

He attempted to get his legs to work with whoever was carrying him but he stumbled. The arm eventually slipped lower and lifted him up off the floor. Lance was rushed over and jostled a bit in the stranger’s grip. Lance yelped when even the smallest movement had his head violently protesting. His feet touched the ground and he slumped back before opening his eyes.

His vision was filled with hues of reds and blacks. Still, he knew he was looking at Keith. Keith appeared fuzzy and blurred in his vision, but it was still undeniably Keith. He murmured his name to try to relay this information to Keith and reached out before the pod door shut and he lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well hey y'all. I'm updating quicker than I thought I was going to because, gee, I didn't expect people to actually read my fic so fast. Maybe I don't know how fanfiction works around here but man, seeing all those people read my fic really filled me with inspiration. So here's the next chapter. Keep in mind, this quick update schedule isn't like, a precedent, so don't expect them in the future.
> 
> Also, hey, im new to fanfiction, ive mentioned that. I'm having trouble with tabs and this program. Can anyone explain to me in the comments the best way to get this program to tab paragraphs when I want it to? I write on google docs. THANKS A BUNCH!
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets some good hugs and some space family sibling bonding. Everything is totally ok and fluffy in this chapter. I just wanted to let you guys enjoy yourself before shit goes down in the next chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently I'm a dirty dirty liar, because I'm updating waaayyy faster than I said I was going to. I'm just so inspired ya'll are so great. Love all the kudos and stuff. This is like waaaayyy more attention than I thought I was going to get for my first fic so I'm super pumped. Thanks you guys! You're the best!

Lance was cold and so so tired. Who dared to wake him up when he was this exhausted.  
Lance yawned and snuggled closer to the warm chest that was carrying him. He felt like a little kid again, with his mom taking him to bed. Lance didn’t even bother opening up his eyes. He was too tired and apparently opening his eyes was too much effort. He did want to know if his mom was carrying him though.

“Mom?” Lance mumbled quietly.

The hands holding him squeezed a little tighter, almost like a hug. Satisfied, Lance curled in closer to the chest and slipped back asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance woke up slowly. He was in his bed, which didn’t make much sense. Hadn’t he been near the pods when-

Lance sat up swiftly. 

He opened his eyes and blink rapidly. Nothing.

He yelled, screamed, desperate to hear his own voice. Nothing.

“No, no no no! Damnit. Damn it!” Lance was so close! So close. He heard Keith and Allura in the med bay. Fuck he saw Keith! He saw his face! Why?

Lance curled into a ball. He clenched his fists and let out a pained breath. Why wasn’t he healed? He had been so close.

Lance wasn’t going to cry, he just wasn't. He reminded himself again that he had been through so much worse. He couldn’t cry over stuff like this. He pushed the palms of his hands against his eyes in an attempt to get them to stop leaking. It was pointless, but he pushed harder and harder until it hurt too much. He grabbed at his hair instead in frustrated tugs that surprisingly helped to ground him.

He gasped when hands tugged them away. Lance was suddenly pushed against a shoulder and enveloped in a hug that was just a bit too tight. Arms held him in place and Lance pushed his face harder into the shoulder. Lance eventually wrapped his arms around the person too, ashamed of how easily he was accepting comfort. 

Softly, Lance finally spoke.

“Keith?”

The arms somehow squeezed tighter and a head dropped to his shoulder, nodding against him. The arms loosened just a bit when they realized how tight they were.

Lance huffed out a breath and curled tighter into the embrace. Lance had never been hugged by Keith before, but he thought that this hug matched his personality. It was just like Keith to give too tight of hugs, aggressive and determined in everything he did. 

One of Keith’s hands came up and began to write out letters into Lance’s shoulder. 

UPSET?

“Yeah I’m-” He sighed. “-I’m just frustrated cus like, because I thought I was healing you know? I just, heard things and saw things before. Like right before I was put in the pod I thought I heard you and Allura talking, and I thought I saw you. But now I’m back to square one and...” He tapered off, ashamed of his sad ramblings.

I‘M SORRY

“It’s not your fault,” He said dejectedly, “I shouldn’t even be upset over this. I know it’s temporary, and I’ve definitely been through worse. I should be able to handle this by now.”

YOU‘RE ALLOWED TO BE SAD

Stunned, Lance sat in silence for a bit.

“When did you get so wise mullet?” He half heartedly chuckled into Keith’s shoulder before lifting his face and sliding out of the hug.

He brought his arms up and stretched a bit, wincing when his shoulder protested, before settling down and wiping his eyes thoroughly. 

“Thanks.”

Keith squeezed his knee before standing up. Lance shuffled to the edge of the bed and stood up, attempting to make the same trek to his closet just like the day before. 

Suddenly, all the walls and all the floors vibrated heavily. Lance was picked up off the floor and squeezed tightly. Feeling a little bit of deja vu, Lance grunted before weaseling his arms out of the person’s grip and feeling around. He already had a hunch of who was hugging him, but he wanted to make sure. Lance pressed his hand onto the person’s forehead and felt the same old headband Hunk had kept since they were kids.

Lance grinned and fondly said, “Hey Hunk.” before reciprocating the hug. Hunk was vibrating a lot, so Lance assumed he was trying to talk to him. 

“Hunk, Hunk buddy. I can’t hear what your saying dude. I’m deaf right now.” 

Hunk let him down from the intense hug before settling hands on his shoulders. 

“I can’t see either, just so you know.”

Hunk’s hands began to assess Lance’s face and he chuckled at his antics. 

“I’m fine. Relax man. Keith said it’s temporary.”

Reluctantly, the hands drew away from his face. Then, another set of hands, smaller this time, grasped his arm. Rolling the sleeves up for him, the small hands began to write.

HEY ITS PIDGE.

“Wow, usually people make me guess who they are. You telling me that the infamous Pidgey isn’t going to take advantage of Lancey Lance in his poor blind and deaf state? No elaborate ruses to be had Pidgen?” 

OH I WILL JUST YOU WAIT

Lance let out a small laugh at that before he was being tugged along by Pidge into the hallway.

“Woah, woah. Wait, slow down Pidge. Let me touch the wall at least. Don’t speed up you little goblin!”

Lance desperately tried to keep up, but running wasn’t really something he tried in this state yet. His steps were more unsure and he eventually lost his balance. He tumbled to the floor and refused to let Pidge go. She brought this on herself. He wrapped his good arm around her and purposefully trapped her underneath him. 

“Ha! That’s what you get.”

Pidge was shaking and pushing at his face. He assumed she was laughing and he playfully fought to keep her trapped. There was no way he was going to win. Strength aside, he was still injured and probably still somewhat sedated from the healing pod. Still, he put forth a good effort at least.

And then Pidge shoved his shoulder with just a little too much strength. It was barely pushed against the wall, but apparently that was enough for his shoulder to explode in pain.

“Shit!” He gasped and immediately let go of Pidge.

He sat up on his knees and gripped his shoulder tightly. Breathing deeply, he tried to will the pain away. Hands rested themselves on his good shoulder.

“I’m fine.” He grunted, evidently not fine.

Fingerless glove-clad hands wrapped around his hand and coaxed it forward. A small sphere was dropped into his hand and a cold cup in his other. He gulped down the pill and thanked the Altean Gods that their medicine was so instantly effective. 

 

Slowly the pain edged away and let out a breath. He straightened his back and slowly stood up.

U OK?

He assumed Keith had wrote that.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Now Pidge, can we go wherever you want to go slower this time?” He said in a snarky tone of voice. 

Pidge’s hand wrapped around his arm and she squeezed once. He was slowly, but not gently, tugged forward. A wall made itself known to his face and he grumbled.

“Sheesh Pidge. I think Keith’s a better guide than you and that’s saying something.”

Someone purposely shoved him into the wall. It was way gentler than anything Keith usually did. What a dork, going easy on poor old Lance huh?

“Geez Keith. Go easy on the injured guy.” He grasped Keith’s hand, followed it to his shoulder, and promptly shoved Keith into the wall as hard as he could.

Cackling, he grabbed Pidge’s hand and started to run.

“Quick! Guide me Pidge c’mon!”

Pidge grabbed his hand back and started running ahead of him. The rapid twist and turns were hard to keep up with but Pidge eventually started warning him ahead of time with a squeeze and a tug in the direction of the turn.

The race for their lives ended when they all crashed into the common room. Lance didn’t even know that Keith had caught up with them and was surprised to find himself suddenly lifted into the air by two strong arms. Then Lance was suplexed onto a couch. Apparently, Keith was not going easy on the injured guy anymore.

The wrestling eventually died down, and now Pidge was attaching some tech to his head while Hunk chatted with him on his arm. Pidge was never a medical expert, so this was most likely a pointless effort, but he still let her have her fun. Meanwhile, Hunk was rapidly dashing into arm the events of the last mission that Lance had missed while unconscious.

“So, you guys were compromised after the bomb exploded too? How did you guys get red back to the ship? Wait, hold on hold on, how did you guys even get injured? If you were all injured how did any of the lions get back to the ship?”

Lance tried to glean some info from Hunk, and while he got some basic understanding, he was writing too fast for any sense of clarity to be had.

Then Hunk stopped. 

“Hunk? Dude?”

ALARMS

“Oh shoot ok. Have fun on your mission, I guess.” 

Hunk’s hands didn’t let go though. He seemed slower in writing the next statement.

SHOULD WE LEAVE YOU HERE ALONE?

“Um, I guess? It’s not like I have any other options.”

OK YOUR ROOM?

“What about it.”

GO?

“Uh ok, but you guys should really hurry.”

Hunk squeezed his arm before standing up. Lance followed but then two sets of hands were on him. The other hands were probably Keith’s. Hunk and Keith sat there for a moment.

What was going on?

Then, Hunk let go and Keith started guiding Lance. 

They moved at a fast pace. Lance moved past the door and held the wall before Keith let go and moved away.

Lance shuffled over to the bed before laying down and sighing. 

“Guess I’ll just sit here and be bored and useless forever.”

Lance shut his eyes and attempted to count out the seconds. A whopping 16 minutes later and Lance was already asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I still don't know how to indent paragraphs on AO3. Can anyone help me? In the comment section? Y'all are beautiful and wonderful thanks!
> 
> Edit: Someone did thanks! I don't need the help anymore. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance deals with some ups and downs. Boredom is brutal and so are missions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I warned you, didn't I?

Lance should really stop falling asleep. 

There was absolutely no way to decipher what time it was in his blind state, leaving him disoriented. He knows he was in a pod, which could’ve had him for a day or not, then he was woken up and messed around with Hunk and Pidge, and finally fell back asleep. He could’ve slept for a whole nights worth, making it the next day, but the pod could’ve had him for a day too, making it the next-next day. Then, either of the two could’ve been shorter than he was imagining and it was late evening of the same day he took a bath and went in the pod. 

So, should he take a bath, or not?

Lance was so frustrated. It seemed that even the stupidest things were horribly complicated in his injured state.

Sighing, he stood up and walked over to the closet. He did know he was wearing pajamas, which Keith must have changed him into after the pod. So if pajamas were appropriate, then maybe now it was the next day? Maybe, his nap was short too.

Wait, was the team back from the mission yet even?

Lance let out a defeated grunt and decided that it was the next day, but not the next-next day, and that a bath was appropriate.

Gathering what he assumed was the correct clothes, Lance made his way to the bathroom and got ready for the day. His poor skin care routine had been neglected recently, due to him not being able to differentiate the bottles. He struggled again to get clean and find everything he needed. Towels were the hardest to find he discovered, and his toothpaste was scattered somewhere on the counter. 

He saved himself from disaster at one point by smelling his lotion instead of toothpaste right before he put the brush into his mouth.

Finally, he finished up and wandered back to his bed in exhaustion. Flopping down on top of the sheets he wondered how everything so simple could take so much energy. Shuffling over to his side, he debated what to do now.

No one had come to visit him yet, so he assumed they were still on the mission. They would probably be back soon but he had no grasp of how long that would take. He couldn’t really do his usual boredom killing activities, as they usually involved someone else or his senses.  
Groaning with frustration, Lance stood up and made his way to the door. He would not get lost this time, he promised himself. Sticking to the left wall, Lance attempted to guide himself to the kitchen. He counted every step and found what he thought was the correct door.

A step inside yielded no answers, but an exploration to the left brought him to what felt like the goo dispensers.

Lance yelled out in triumph. Finally! For the first time in his injured state, Lance felt competent and independent. He danced around the area in victory before a small maneuver with his hands made his shoulder protest and he calmed down. 

It was relatively easy to find the utensils and the plates and he was quickly sitting down with a plate of goo in no time at all. His earlier frustrations vanished and he couldn’t hold back his grin.

When he finished his goo, he decided to walk around and map out the area so he could help himself get around without relying on Keith.

He made it back to his room 4 times, only getting lost once, and successfully counted out the steps and directions for the kitchen, main deck, and the lounge.

Settling down into the lounge, he decided to try and find something else to do. After sitting in his thoughts for a bit, he was startled by the castle violently shaking.

Hopping to his feet, he made his way to the main deck as quickly as he could. At one point, the violent shudders of the castle made him stumble and his bad shoulder took the brunt of his fall. He clutched his shoulder as it pulsed in pain and attempted to run the rest of the way to the deck. 

He was lost. Certainly it was close by, and he knew he could find it if he could just clear his head, but the pain was distracting and he couldn’t focus. He brushed past what seemed to be a door frame when a hand suddenly grabbed his. 

He shrieked in surprise, but before he could investigate the hand was already tugging him in a different direction. Their pace was frantic and Lance struggled to keep up. The hand wasn’t Pidge’s, he knew that, but there was no way to decipher who it could be exactly. 

As he was dragged along by the hand he felt a push in the back of his mind. It wasn’t painful, like his frequent headaches, but instead like a finger was incessantly trying to get his attention by pressing on his skull.

"Paladin!" A deep voice sounded off in his head. Waves of panic that didn’t belong to him suddenly erupted in his brain and messages were frantically latching onto his subconscious.

It was Red, or maybe Blue? It didn’t matter, as long as he finally got some information.

“What’s happening?” He tried to mentally send the question back to them.

Both of lions responded in images of Keith and the black lion, a pictures of the hanger, and a crash.

Had the black lion crashed into the hanger?

He was about to ask for more details when the hand finally stopped tugging him.

WAIT THERE

“No! No, what’s happening? Please tell me.” 

He followed the hand to the best of his ability when a person crashed into his side. 

Pidge was hugging him around his waist. He wrapped his arm around her and felt as she pushed her face farther into the embrace. 

“Pidge, what’s happening? Is Keith okay?”

He felt his shirt begin to soak up tears and she shook her head slowly into his chest. Another set of hands began to wrap around the two and Lance knew that Hunk was hugging the pair. Hunk set his head on Lance’s shoulder and began to write.

KEITH HURT

CRASHED

LION WON‘T OPEN

Lance slowly unraveled himself from the embrace and let out a breath. He rubbed Pidge’s back and mumbled “He’s gonna be fine.” into her shoulder before standing up fully. 

“Hunk, could you lead me to the lion please?”

Hesitantly, Hunk grabbed Lance’s outstretched hand and gently pulled him along. Hunk’s hands were shaking and Lance twined their hands together further to comfort him. There was some debris on the ground that he tripped over, since Hunk was too shaken up to warn him about apparently. 

Finally Hunk lifted Lance’s hand to a smooth surface. The black lion was heating up and energy thrummed below the surface of the metal. The blue lion sent him an image that showed Lance standing in front of the maw of Black and Lance knew that the doorway was just beyond his fingertips.

Gently Lance spoke to the lion. Little whispers of encouragement and pleads for the lion to open the doors. When a long moment past and nothing happened, Lance asked Hunk for a comm link. A helmet, bigger than he was used to, was shoved onto his head and Lance assumed that Hunk was getting more nervous by the second. 

“Keith? Keith? I don’t know if you can hear me but you have to open up okay? We gotta help you. We’re gonna help you, but you have to try to open the doors Keith.”

Hunk reached out and squeezed Lance’s hand.

“Keith. I know you’re probably in a lot of pain, and probably want to sleep but you have to do this one thing okay? For me? You owe me a lot of favors Keith, you should do this one thing for me. Please Keith, open up.”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t want to cry, that would really dishearten everyone, but with every passing moment the doors didn’t open it got harder. He slid down the side of the jaw and pressed his hand onto the jaw a little harder.

“Please Keith.” His voice cracked and he let out a breath. “Please open the doors.”

The black lion shuddered, and Lance stepped back. The jaw opened up and he felt Hunk let go of his hand to rush ahead. Lance stumbled up the ramp and into the cockpit. Some people brushed past him and he felt what seemed to be stretcher move with the group of people. He held onto the side of the cockpit before Hunk grabbed his hand again and began to lead him back out.

He rushed and tried to keep up while also attempting not to cry in relief. He wiped his eyes and kept pace with Hunk. Lance nearly tripped and fell when Hunk abruptly stopped. 

“Hunk? Where are we? Why are we stopping?”

HE IS CALLING FOR YOU

“What? Keith is?”

Then Hunk brought him over to the stretcher. The stretcher kept moving, and Lance tried to keep pace while attempting to find Keith. Lance felt around and gasped when his hand pushed through warm liquid. He was horrified when all he could feel was blood. His hand traveled further up and he felt a chest rapidly rising and sinking with breath. A shaky hand weakly grasped his from where it lay on the chest and Lance squeezed back. 

The stretcher was pushed through a door and Lance maneuver himself inside with it. It rose up and deposited Keith onto a cot in what was probably near the middle of the room. 

“Why aren’t you putting him in a pod?”

A small hand traced a message in his lower back.

DEBRIS WE HAVE TO PULL OUT

“Oh god. Oh fucking- God ok. Hunk, you should probably take Pidge and leave. You shouldn’t stay for this, it will make you sick.” Lance wiped at his eyes again and let out a pained breath. Hunk grasped his shoulder and Pidge patted his back once before they left. 

Oh god. 

Keith squeezed his hand and Lance turned his attention back to him. 

“You’re gonna be okay Keith, it’s okay.” Lance leaned in closer and brought both his hands to wrap around Keith’s. He whispered comforts to Keith when a gloved hand touched his shoulder.

STARTING NOW 

ARE YOU GOING TO STAY?

“Yeah I am. Can I?”

OK

“Did you put something between his teeth?”

YES

“Ok, let’s start then.”

Keith squeezed his hand again, and for a moment just layed there peacefully. Then he jolted up from the table and gripped Lance’s hand hard. 

“Keith. Everything’s okay, alright? Try to focus on me ok?”

Keith loosened his grip some then tightened again before surging forward again.

HE NEEDS TO STAY STILL

Lance nodded before lowering himself closer to Keith’s face and whispering more comforts to his ear. He brought a hand up and wrapped it around his shoulder before pushing slightly to encourage him to stay still.

Keith’s shoulders and hand began to shake. Lance brought his hand from his shoulder to his face and started to wipe away the tears he found there. Keith trembled heavily and tensed before fresh tears began running down his face again. Another one of Keith’s hands found his arm and held it to his face. Lance pressed his forehead to Keith’s and started whispering to him again. 

TWO MORE

“Almost done Keith. Almost done. You’ll feel better once we’re done, I promise. Then you can sleep.”

He started to wipe more tears away when Keith tensed again and gripped his hand so hard it hurt. A series of warm breaths started blowing past his face and Lance gently pressed his head down again. He instinctively pressed a kiss onto Keith’s forehead and felt Keith gasp, tense, and then relax. He kissed his temple next and Keith’s hand slowly started to loosen his grip on Lance’s hand.

POD SUIT NOW

Lance barely turned away and nodded at them before straightening up to give them room. Keith tensed and tugged at him with his hand.

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere. Relax I’ll be right here.” Lance wiped the few remaining tears from Keith’s face before slowly extracting his hand. 

Lance tried his best to help Allura and Coran put the pod suit on while still holding Keith’s hand. They finished quickly and Lance helped lift Keith off the table before setting him on his and Coran’s shoulders and walking over to a pod. He let Coran guide him and almost tripped and dropped Keith when he walked into a step he wasn’t expecting, but they eventually started to settle Keith into the pod. 

Slowly Keith lost consciousness, and finally let go of Lance’s hand. The pod doors shut and Lance took a step back. He crumpled almost immediately.

He lowered himself down to the ground and curled into a ball. Keith’s blood was on his hands and in his hair and smudged on his face. He kept finding more and more of it all over his body. He grabbed at his hair and brought his head to his knees. He gasped and tried his best to contain his tears. He was so glad he couldn’t see. So glad he couldn’t see how horrible the wounds were, but he could only imagine and that might’ve been worse. Hunk’s hands found their way to his shoulders and gently pulled his hands away from his hair. He slowly pushed Lance into his side and wrapped his arms around him. Pidge began to wrap around him from the other side and Lance let go. Lance let go and began to let himself cry.

After a while, Lance’s sobs began to taper off and Hunk pulled him off of the ground. In a daze, Lance let Hunk guide him back to his room. Hunk helped him wash the blood off his body and wrapped him up in warm towels. Hunk handed him a meal of goo and soon he was back in his pajamas, in bed, and drifting off despite everything. He was tired, but also not tired enough.

“Hunk?” A “Y” was traced on his arm. “I should probably take some pain medication before I go to sleep.” 

It was a distraction, not really necessary, but Lance knew that he wouldn’t be sleeping soundly tonight. The pills definitely had some drowsy effect to them and Lance would take what he could get.

OK

And a moment later, Hunk returned with a pill and some water. Slower this time, Lance took the pill before tucking away into the covers.

GOODNIGHT

“Goodnight.” And then Lance was left alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, only one more chapter! But hey don't worry! I'm already starting a new fic. It's gonna be a whole lot more fluffy than this one so stay tuned! Also, I have a Tumblr now. It's like, brand new, so don't expect much from it. But if you want updates on my fics, I'll be posting them there including some art to go along with each of them. Just look up Silvaniuous I'm too tired to add a link.
> 
> I have a question for you commenters, do you guys think I should add some tags to this fic?
> 
> I have been struggling with the idea of adding a "blind lance" and "deaf lance" tag to the fic because, for one, the symptoms are mostly temporary and two it's kinda spoilers so. What do you think? 
> 
> Also hey! I didn't indent paragraphs again. I know how to do it now, but i got lazy sooooo..... next time?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has some trouble sleeping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH! Finally done! Sorry for that little hiatus, I was recovering from season 7, as we all are. I lost like all creative energy. Anyway, I'm back now!

Lance counted out five minutes in his head after Hunk left his parting words. Lance figured that Hunk had left by now and scrambled to his feet. After pulling the blanket from the bed, he wrapped himself in it and waddled to the door.

While it was true he wanted to sleep, the pain killer a testament to that, he knew it was hopeless. So instead he wandered the halls for a bit.

Lance had counted out the steps for some of the rooms on the ship earlier that day, but he hadn’t figured out where the med bay was. His memory was also lacking in where the closest room to the med bay was, so he couldn’t even attempt to calculate out its directions. 

Lance wanted to sit in the med bay, but again he couldn’t, so he just… walked. In the back of his mind, he knew this was dangerous. There was a very real chance of him getting lost for the night and having to sleep in some random location on the floor, but he only distantly realized this as a problem. His mind was drifting away and he couldn’t focus on anything particularly well.

Like a ghost he swayed down the hall in a dreamlike state, humming to himself. A little song that he hardly remembered slipped from his lips in a haunting tune.

Lance couldn’t hear it.

He was hardly aware of himself anyway.

Slowly, his soul drifted back to his body and he stopped in his tracks. He had been walking for ages, but it felt like no time at all. His legs ached and trembled from overexertion, probably from his brief period of dancing, and he slid down the closest wall. 

He stretched out his legs and arched his back raising his arms far above his head before sighing and curling back into himself. Smacking his lips a little, he pushed more of his weight on the wall and relaxed.

Then he falling.

The “wall” was apparently not a wall, but instead a door which slid open and left his head to smack against the floor.

He cursed and raised his arms to wrap around his pulsing head. Shuffling around, he lifted himself onto his knees and slowly withdrew his arms from his head. He very carefully and steadily stood up and reached his arm out in a search for a stable, not doorlike, wall.

His hand drifted around the room a bit before sliding against a wall and he rested against it.

Then a hand grabbed his arm.

Startled, Lance knocked his head against the wall in an attempt to dart away. He hissed in pain once again and brought his hands right back to where they left.

“What the fuck? Who’s there?”

A hand grabbed one of the ones attached to his head and brought it towards them, presumably to write on it. Lance was impatient however, and instead searched for the face of the person. He drifted from their shoulder to their head and felt around for any defining feature.

Glasses.

Bingo.

“Pidge, what-”

WHY ARE YOU HERE?

“I didn’t- I don’t-” He abandoned the thought of explaining himself. 

“Where am I?” He asked instead.

GREEN HANGER

“Oh.”

The Green Lion’s hanger was an incredible distance from his room, but closer than any of the other hangers. He must have been wandering for hours.

Pidge pulled on his arm and led him to where he presumed she had been working. A hand tugged his and guided it to the floor to reveal a soft cushion.

He sat down and crossed his legs, a little uncomfortably.

“Why are you awake?”

That was a stupid question, Pidge was always awake.

WORKING ON YOU

“What do you mean?”

Pidges hand traced out the start of a message, before stopping and tapping her fingers.

HARD TO EXPLAIN

SIGHT AND HEARING

“Oh, ok. But I thought it was temporary? Isn’t it going to heal on its own?”

LANCE

She stopped, once again abandoning her message. She shuffled a little closer, and uncomfortably wrapped her arms around him. He tried to wiggle his arms a little to make the hug a bit more pleasant and sat them down over her shoulders. 

“I should have known. Head injuries are a bit more complicated huh? No magical cure for me then?”

Pidge shook her head against his torso in agreement.

COMPLICATED

“But I did hear things briefly before. And I saw Keith once, when I was put in the pod a second time.” 

Pidge shifted her head back, presumably to peer at him and dashed out onto his shoulder.

REALLY? EXPLAIN.

COULD BE HELPFUL

“Alright.”

He laid down on the floor, bringing the blanket and wrapping it around his own shoulders. Pidge hopped out of his vicinity and explained she would be taking notes beside him on her computer. He wanted to lay his head in her lap, like he used to with his sisters during gossip, but didn’t know if she was comfortable with that so he abandoned the idea.

He went through every detail he could remember about his condition. He started all the way back when he had first emerged from the pod and tried to explain everything that he thought was worth mentioning in great detail.

OK I THINK I HAVE AN IDEA

Pidge dashed this rather excitedly against his shoulder and he was filled with a little bit of hope. 

When Pidge turned away, he asked if he could stay here instead of going back to his room and she readily agreed. So he talked about everything, gossiped about everything, just like he used to with his sisters. Pidge reciprocated and Lance discovered a mountain of dirt he could use on nearly anyone in the castle. Coran remained elusive though as, any dirt they could possibly come up with the man probably wouldn’t be embarrassed by. 

Eventually, Keith came up in the discussion and Lance talked about how nice Keith had been recently. He related it back to his injured state and assumed it was a nicer form of pity, but Pidge disagreed. Smugly though, she wouldn’t elaborate. 

Halfway through the discussion, Pidge’s hands started to comb through his hair.

Lance felt his eyes grow heavy soon after that.  
He eventually fell asleep, with a smile on his lips.

\----------------------

Hunk was lifting Lance off the floor when Lance awoke.

Softly, he opened his eyes and only felt mildly disappointed at his prevailing lack of vision.

Nuzzling into Hunk’s chest, he mumbled out a little “What’s up big guy? What time is it?” before shifting his face farther into the warm embrace.

The hand that was holding him up traced out a little message.

EARLY MORNING

TAKING YOU BACK TO BED

“What about Pidge?”

IN THE OTHER ARM

Lance drifted his hand across Hunk’s chest before finding another body directly opposite of him. Hunk was carrying them both on his hips like they were toddlers. Satisfied, Lance let out a sigh and grumbled a bit before succumbing to the kidnapping.

“When’s Keith getting out of the pod?”

DUNNO

“Ok.”

Lance was eventually placed back under the covers and he snuggled into his bed. It was slightly cold and that upset him a little.

“Hunk?”

Y?

“Wanna cuddle? Like we used to at the garrison?”

NO

SORRY 

BUSY

Lance’s face scrunched up in his irritation and he muttered out a sharp “Fine.” before settling back in.

He took a brief nap, or at least he thought it was a brief nap, before standing up. He went through his morning routine, stumbling a little less now that he was used to the loss of his senses, and headed out the door.

His morning routine wasn’t all that frustrating anymore, but he was still a little grumpy.

It was probably the lack of cuddles, sleep, and maybe a little bit of him missing Keith.

God was he really that desperate? Keith was totally going to be fine, he made into the pod just in time and he’d only been gone a day. Not even a day, it had been way less than 24 hours.

Grumbling to himself, he stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed himself some breakfast before plopping down at the table and shoveling it into his mouth.

What was he desperate for anyway? His attention?

Shaking his head, he decided to drop the subject. It hurt his head to think about. 

Lance continued eating, almost finishing, when a hand suddenly shook his elbow. The tiny hand squeezed before shifting up and down. Was Pidge jumping up and down?

“Pidge, I get that you’re excited, but I can’t hear what you’re saying dude.”

The hand stopped for only a second before enthusiastically dashing out a message on his arm.

WANNA TRY SOMETHING

FOUND A SOLUTION MAYBE

“For my injuries? Really? I thought you said there was no cure.”

NOT PERFECT BUT COULD HELP

IT’S GOOD EXCITED

Pidge then began to try to explain it, but she was going very fast and not using sentences at all so he just gave up. He reached out and grasped her hand before saying, “Alright, alright! Let’s try it then.” and standing up from his seat. Pidge tried to tug him away but he ripped his arm out of her grasp so he could do the dishes.

Finally, he finished. Not even a second after, he was forcibly pushed away from the kitchen and down the hall. Pidge accidentally pushed him into some walls in her excitement and he let out a chuckle. Hunk eventually joined them, equally excited, and soon they were taking Lance on a race to the lab that he feared for his life during. 

He was whipped around several corners before he was suddenly let go. Falling forward, he let his hands catch him and shot a glare in both their general direction.

He stood up and dusted himself off before gently grasping Hunk’s apologetic hands and following him over to a table.

OK WE’RE GONNA RUN SOME TESTS

Pidge’s hand traced out another message after a bit.

TELL US IF YOU CAN HEAR ANY OF THIS OK?

Some soft headphones were placed on his head and he gave a little thumbs up to let them know they were oriented correctly.

“Should I say that I hear them or do you wanna another silent kind of signal or…”

THUMBS UP

READY?

WE’RE STARTING IN 

3

2 

1

Lance sat silently and tried his best to listen for anything. After a while, he was about to voice his concerns when a small beep sounded off in his right ear.  
His eyes widened and he quickly held a thumbs up.

Another beep, longer this time, sounded off in his left ear.

He had let out another thumbs up when suddenly the beep got louder. It quickly became piercing and his shoulder flared up in response. He ripped the headphones off and let them fall to the floor. The painful ring didn’t let up though and he wrapped his hands around his ears. 

It progressively got louder and Lance felt like his ears were being stabbed through with a needle. He let out a scream and recoiled when he heard his own voice. His shoulder pulsed with a new wave of pain and he quickly brought a hand up to press against it. Whimpering, Lance tried to steady his breathing, but the ring only got more and more painful over time. His head was flooded with a throbbing sensation and his shoulder seemed to ache more in response. Lance was shaking and stumbled off the chair in an attempt to stand up and call for help.

Suddenly, Lance wasn’t on the ground anymore. Hands were on his back and he realized that they had been there for a while, but he didn’t notice them in his pain. His shoulder and head flared up and soon he couldn’t even think coherently. He was crying and pleading for his body to just pass out already. 

His foot bumped into a wall and he realized that whoever was carrying him had started moving very quickly.

He passed out before he made it to the pod.

\----------------------

Lance let out a gasp and stumbled forward. Warm arms encircled him in a thin blanket and led him over to a bench. He was really tired of pods.

He opened his eyes and was frustrated when he saw nothing. He should’ve expected it, there was no use having false hope. Scowling, he shrunk down and shivered.

“Keith? Can you get me my jacket? This blanket isn’t doing me too much good.”

A jacket was plopped down into his lap, but a hand on his arm wrote out:

IT’S HUNK

“Oh. Yeah, sorry. So, what happened? How much time has passed?”

HALF A DAY

TEST WENT WRONG

FIXED

“Oh you fixed the test? Cool, is Pidge gonna come bother me about that any second now then? Wait, wait. It’s been half a day, is Keith out yet?”

NO 

Lance huffed out a breath. Still? Something was terribly wrong with Keith and no one was telling him, he was sure of it. Did he have all his limbs even? Lance didn’t remember ever feeling his legs but then again he could have just had bad aim when he reached out to him. Was he even alive? Was the rest of the team trying to break it to him slowly or-

Hunk clearly saw the panic on Lance’s face because he reached down and pulled him into a hug.

HE’S FINE 

JUST A LITTLE LONGER

Lance sighed and wrapped his arms around Hunk in response. After he pulled away, he stood up only to be knocked right back down by a sudden weight against his torso.

He grunted and felt the odd weight. Was it a body?

“Pidge?”

SORRY TEST BAD FIXED NOW HAVE SOLUTION READY FOR HEARING GOT A THING FOR SIGHT MIGHT WORK CAN’T WAIT CAN YOU DO NOW ARE YOU READY-

“Jeez Pidge slow down! Sure, I mean, I’m ready I guess but are you sure it’s safe? How do you even have enough data to make anything, the test was broken right?”

IT’S FINE SAFE READY?

“Yeah alright. I guess, lay it on me.” He said thoroughly confused and not at all ready.

His hands were tugged away from his body and he cupped his hands around two small devices that were dropped in his hands. He shifted them to one hand and picked one up to inspect it.

“Is this...is this a hearing aid?”

YEP PUT THEM ON

He shifted in his seat and struggled to put them on. He clumsily put them on in hopefully the right direction before asking Pidge if he had it correct. Pidge confirmed with a small “Y” on his shoulder and began to gently touch and prod each one. 

LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU CAN HEAR HUNK

Lance nodded his head, which wasn’t the best idea since she lost her placing on the hearing aids. After some quick fumbling, she was ready and began to twist something into place.

He sat there in anticipation.

After a while, he heard a small buzz.

Hunk’s voice was there but fuzzy. It was still undeniably him though.

“I can hear Hunk! I mean not really, but sorta!”

Pidge stopped momentarily before twisting some more.

“Lance? Test test? I’ve read your diary? I’ll tell Keith everything in it once he wakes up? Test?”

“YOU BETTER NOT!!!” 

Pidge chuckled next to him and he tackled her into a hug. Hunk swooped in as well and lifted them both off the ground.

Lance was laughing and Hunk was laughing and Pidge was laughing and Lance could hear all of them. He had never been happier, never in his life. He pressed closer to both of them and whispered out how much he loved them and their stupid genius brains.

Eventually they sat down again and began to run the vision test on Lance. While he was waiting, he talked to them and marveled at all of the sounds he apparently hadn’t realized he missed. 

Hunk’s signature heavy footsteps.

Pidge’s impatient tapping.

Breathing. Talking. Whistling. Singing. Hunk joining in and singing with him.

The sound wasn’t quite right, now that he was really listening. It was a little garbled, and messy, but he could still hear everything and differentiate what was what, who was who, and exactly what they were saying. A small price to pay for an almost perfect cure.

He let a few small tears slip down his face as he grinned.

\----------------------

The vision test went pretty well. The castle had apparently owned a pretty complex set of lasers to help repair eyesight and with some tweaks to adjust for the human eye, Pidge had it all set up. The test went through perfectly, but he was warned his vision wouldn’t be perfect.

The only reason he couldn’t see right now was because they were scared the lights would damage his eyes. They wrapped up his face and instructed him to not remove them until tomorrow. 

They spent the rest of the day celebrating. Allura and Coran eventually joined them in the lounge to congratulate him. He roped everyone into a celebratory karaoke night in honor of his hearing being back and everyone agreed.

Finally the celebration ended, and he sat back down in his bed once again. Smiling to himself, he giggled after remembering Coran’s horrible renditions of earth songs. He settled down further into the covers, feeling happy and content. He was probably the happiest he'd ever been. He drifted to sleep slowly with a grin on his face.

\----------------------

Lance woke slowly. He opened his eyes and remembered the wraps. He blinked a bit but didn’t move quite yet, too comfy to even attempt anything. Why was he awake?

He heard a sigh. 

Lance was now very awake and alert. He didn’t move, seemingly frozen. The wraps covered his eyes, so the visitor probably didn’t know he was awake. Lance had the advantage, he had the element of surprise, but Lance still didn't know quite what to do. He would have to wait, attack, then hope he makes it to the door without his sight.

A hand brushed through his bangs, tucking them out of his face before a weight settled on the bed. Lance hesitated.

“I care about you far too fucking much... I should be asleep, but apparently I just had to check up on you. Now I don’t even have the guts to wake you up. I’m pathetic.” Keith chuckled self-deprecatingly.

Lance had never heard Keith talk like this. He froze, stupefied beyond belief, hoping Keith would elaborate if he pretended to be asleep.

“Why am I only honest with my feelings when you can’t even hear me.” 

Did Keith not know Lance could hear now? Did he just emerge from the pod? He must’ve since he hadn’t been filled in yet. 

Wait, his feelings?!

Lance’s heart thumped in his chest and he hoped Keith couldn’t hear his accelerated heart beat. Keith let out a sigh and shifted on the bed. He stood up and took a couple steps away from Lance’s bed before turning around. He just stood there and Lance had no idea what was happening.

“Fuck it,” Keith whispered to himself.

A small kiss was placed on Lance’s temple and Lance tried his best to not move and give himself away. Keith quickly started to walk away and Lance shot into action.

He sat up, turning to where Keith probably was.

“Keith?”

Keith’s footsteps stopped. He hesitated. Eventually, Keith turned around and walked up to Lance before gently grasping Lance’s arm.

YEAH I’M HERE

SORRY FOR WAKING YOU UP

I’LL GO

“Keith I don’t. Um, I can hear you now.”

Keith’s hand froze on Lance’s wrist. His grip was sweaty and tight. He let go as if hoping Lance hadn’t noticed.

“Um, how much did you- how long have you been awake?”

Keith stumbled over his words. He was really nervous, as if Lance was going to bite his head off.

“What did you mean, when you said that you… your feelings?”

Keith didn’t answer. 

“Sit down Keith.”

Lance felt a weight on the bed near his feet and he could feel the tension radiating off of Keith. Lance needed to calm him down fast before he bolted.

He sat up further, shifting the covers off his body and shuffling over to where Keith sat. He let his feet hang off the edge of the bed and settled down in a position he hoped mirrored Keith. Finally, he lifted his arm and slowly put it over Keith’s shoulder. Keith tensed, but relaxed slightly after a second. He was nowhere near calm, but at least he wasn’t about to bolt.

“Keith.” Lance offered the statement as a comforting thing. It was an invitation for Keith to take his time and come up with the words he needed to say.

Lance drew shapes into Keith’s back, just like Keith had done to him before.

Keith took a breath and let it out slowly.

“I… have some feelings. For you that is. I dunno if it’s the big L word yet, but it feels like it has the potential to be. I know that, I know that you like Allura, or that you just like girls exclusively, so I wasn’t ever going to act on them. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, and I like what we have now. I’ll get over them. If you want some space, I can give you it.”

Lance settled his other hand on Keith’s knee to find where his hands were. They were tense and Lance eventually pried one of them away to hold it gently.

“Keith, I don’t exclusively like girls. I’m bisexual, I really thought you knew that if I’m being honest.” Lance let out a chuckle before continuing, “And while I did sort of like Allura, it was never really a crush. I admire her, a lot, but I don’t think I want anything to happen between us. It’s just fun to flirt with her. I think I might have feelings for a certain mulleted man though, but I don’t think it’s love yet. Still though, I wouldn’t be opposed to a date or two.” Lance finished with a chaste kiss to Keith’s cheek. Keith turned and his grip on Lance’s hand tightened. 

Lance grinned in Keith’s general direction. Keith slowly pushed his head down to Lance’s shoulder before wrapping his arms around his torso. Lance brought his arms around his shoulders and squeezed once.

He slipped his hands down Keith’s arms and pushed back a little. Keith obediently lifted his head and sat back. 

“Now, I’m exhausted but I should probably fill you in on everything you missed. Also, I wanna know what I missed, no details left out.” Lance gently tugged Keith down to fall onto the bed with him.

They talked for a long time about everything and nothing. Lance eventually filled Keith in on his hearing and vision conditions and Keith relayed back what had actually happened on the mission. They eventually started talking about less important topics and soon Lance was excitedly talking about the party with the newly installed karaoke machine.

Their conversation wrapped up slowly, with both of them struggling to stay awake.

“Is this okay? Can I sleep here?” Keith asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, please do. Hunk and Pidge wouldn’t cuddle me so I’ve been in a severe drought recently.”

Keith chuckled, and wrapped his arms around Lance before settling in further.

“Goodnight. I’m glad you can hear now.”

“So am I. Goodnight.”

Lance was drifting off to sleep when he felt a small message trace out on his shoulder.

THANK YOU

LOVE YOU

SWEET DREAMS

He smiled to himself, positively giddy. Keith had used the big L word. By accident maybe? It didn’t really matter. Lance was pretty sure he was almost there too.

Lance finally fell asleep, now officially the happiest he'd ever been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!!!!!! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING AND COMMENTARY YOU ARE ALL WONDERFUL AND DONT YOU FORGET IT!!!!!!!
> 
> Thank god this fic is done yeah? I'm working on a new, fluffier piece right now so stick around! The first three chapters of that fic will be done by thursdayish and ill be uploading them all that day probably. I wanted to give you an apology for being gone so long and not updating so im pushing that fic to be finished faster. 
> 
> Edit: I just realized that hey! I didn't ever write how Lance's eyes turned out! What the third button did! Etcetera! So, as a further apology, i will be writing a short epilogue taking place the day after. I'll post it the same time i post the new fic.
> 
> Check out my tumblr for frequent updates on fics!  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/silvaniuous


	6. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Epilogue! Lance has his vision back!

The team gathered around Lance. He sat on a med bay bed and huffed in annoyance.

“Seriously Pidge? How are you not done yet?”

“Relax Lance. I’m just doing some final tests so that you don’t get blinded by the lights and we’re back where we started! Can you please, for the love of god, just be patient?”

Keith nudged his elbow into Lance’s side.

“Lance this is your sight we’re talking about. Can’t you understand how important this is?”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid, I get it. Can’t you guys let a dude whine? I haven’t been able to see for like week, I’m justifiably a little excited ok?”

Hunk sighed and mumbled out a little, “You’re not stupid Lance,” before rubbing his arm.

Pidge adjusted some heavy machinery in front of Lance and it sounded like she was twisting something into place. He reached a hand out to feel what it was but it got slapped away. He grumbled and brought the hand to chest.

Keith’s hand, with his stupid gloves, casually grabbed the hand and started to massage it. He was probably trying to distract him, and it was working. Lance shifted a little lower in the bed and closed his eyes, focusing on the pleasant massage. Eventually, the stimulus from the massage became a little annoying so he twisted his hand around and tangled his fingers with Keith’s instead. 

“That’s so gooey, I’m gonna die.” Hunk whined.

Keith squeezed Lance’s hand once before quickly griping back,

“Hunk, you are literally the worst.”

“Yeah Hunk. You’re just jealous that holding a rock girl’s hand sucks.”

Pidge butt in before Hunk could respond.

“Alright! Everybody, shut up! We’re ready to go, can everyone exit stage right please?”

Some chairs squeaked and shifted back while footsteps slowly made their way to the door. Lance sat up and straightened his back. Under Pidge’s instruction, he put his chin on the device and went through the steps she ushered. Some lights were flashed in his face with his eyes shut. Ten minutes of this passed by and Lance once again went back to his whiny and bored state. Pidge brutally shushed him before continuing. 

“Ok, I think we’re done. Everyone can enter the room again, and Coran can you lower the lights?”

Everyone gathered around again, and Keith grabbed his hand once more before sitting down.

“Okay, Lance I’m going to lift the bandages in, 3”

Anticipation clawed its way in Lance’s gut.

“2”

He lifted his own hand to the bandages to speed up the process.

“1”

The bandages lifted and he blinked once. His vision was fuzzy and kinda giving him a headache. He lowered his head and brought his hands up to rub at his eyes. Blinking a little his vision slowly came into focus.

He lifted his head and looked around.

Everyone was making a ridiculous face. Hunk had his nose lifted up with tape and was pulling his ears out to make the impression of a pig. Allura and Coran looked like they didn’t quite understand the concept but shape shifted their features to be a little more exaggerated. Pidge didn’t put much effort in, sticking her tongue out and lifting her hands to the side of her face. Keith wasn’t even slightly trying. He just looked at Lance with a soft smile but he tried to cross his eyes a little. 

Lance gasped, and sighed with a goofy grin on his face.

“I love you all so much,” he whined.

They all chuckled and leaned in for a hug.

A few more tests on his eyes showed that he wasn’t able to see near sighted things quite as well. Not a huge problem for his sharpshooting skills, but still an annoyance. He could hardly read anything anymore. 

Pidge announced that he was going to have to wear glasses and he groaned. What a tacky accessory, he was gonna look like an old man. 

“I think you’ll look cute in them!” Keith said frustrated at Lances whining. 

“Of course, you would.” Pidge mumbled out.

“Hey, so, I guess I don’t need this anymore.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the communicator. Lance held it out and really looked at it. The third button was red and sort of shiny. 

“What does this do anyway?” 

Lance reached down to press it.

Keith suddenly whipped his head around,

“No! Please don’t press-”

“TRANSMISSION ENDED 178 HOURS 34 MINUTES 26 SECONDS RECORDED”

Lance sat there stunned for a minute. Then realization kicked in and he turned to Keith absolutely baffled.

“Wha- recording, transmission?! You were baby-monitoring me?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE FIC IS DONE! this chapter isn't as long, but it's an epilogue so who cares!
> 
> I just uploaded the first chapter of a new fic. It's pretty story driven and focuses on Lance and Keith a little more.
> 
> Check it out! It's called "An Unwilling Adventure (Kidnapping): Starring Lance"  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15781839/chapters/36718068

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! i try to update regularly but hey, what can you do. Get on my case if it gets more than 2 weeks in between updates. and only then. don't nag me otherwise.


End file.
